


Zemnian Lullabies

by VolarFinch



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Because i'm still not super familiar with his character, Bisexual Mollymauk Tealeaf, Caleb Can Sing, Critical Role Campaign 2, Gen, Genderfluid Mollymauk Tealeaf, I'm not caught up so I need to make all my own widomauk content, Late Nights, M/M, Singing, Sleep shifts, Tired Singing, Traveling, Undisclosed Period Of Time, Uses He/Him most of the time, tiredness, widomauk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 07:56:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16081805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolarFinch/pseuds/VolarFinch
Summary: Mollymauk Tealeaf woke up to the sound of singing.It had been weeks since anything like that had woken him up. He could still hear Touya’s tiny melodies she practiced in the dead of the morning when she thought no one could hear her; the twins’ rhyming as they practiced their acts, their repetitive voices lulling the others back to sleep; the sound of the violin’s strings being tuned. The sounds echoed in the back of his head, a distant memory he tried not to forget. The voice that woke him up, however, was unfamiliar. He knew the voice, yes, but hearing it sing was almost alien. Molly’s eyes opened and he didn’t dare move, keeping his breathing at the same pace as he continued to listen to the voice. He could just see the pricks of sunlight breaking the horizon over the valley.Molly had no idea Caleb could sing.





	Zemnian Lullabies

**Author's Note:**

> he i hope y'all enjoy!! this is my first time writing for widomauk but i feel like i did pretty good?? it's not anywhere specific in the story just mid-travel since i'm only on episode 10 lol (so no spoilers pls)!!!
> 
> enjoy my shameless hcs and please feel free to comment and share if you'd like!! my tumblr is @volarfinch as well and you can find this piece @a-dot-corbin (my art blog)!

Mollymauk Tealeaf woke up to the sound of singing.

It had been weeks since anything like that had woken him up. He could still hear Touya’s tiny melodies she practiced in the dead of the morning when she thought no one could hear her; the Knot twins’ rhyming as they practiced their acts, their repetitive voices lulling the others back to sleep; the sound of Desmond's violin being tuned. The sounds echoed in the back of his head, a distant memory he tried not to forget. The voice that woke him up, however, was unfamiliar. He knew the voice, yes, but hearing it sing was almost alien. Molly’s eyes opened and he didn’t dare move, keeping his breathing at the same pace as he continued to listen to the voice. He could just see the pricks of sunlight breaking the horizon over the valley from where he lay.

Molly had no idea Caleb could sing.

The thought of anyone in the Might Nein singing (excluding Fjord, perhaps, and _maybe_ even Jester) was a bit ludicrous to him. None of them seemed inclined towards the performing arts and he’d never thought to ask if any of them had experience with it. Caleb usually had his nose too deep in a book for Molly to even laugh at the thought of the human singing or even humming. However, listening in the still of the morning, Molly knew that it was Caleb singing from the slight gruffness in his voice and the Zemnian words.

He couldn’t understand what Caleb was singing, but Molly knew of the song. It was a somber tune for travelers who had nowhere to go––Touya had learned it while they'd been passing through a town. There were a few words he could make out now and then, but most of them eluded him. Molly, instead of searching through the lyrics as he normally did, simply took in Caleb’s voice.

Caleb was by no means awful. He certainly wasn’t on Touya’s level of melody,––Caleb fell flat on some notes and even came in too late and early on other verses––but there was definitely a gift present. He sounded like he’d once had a great singing voice but it had fallen into disuse. His voice was heavy with tiredness, clearly barely holding onto consciousness as his watch began trickling to an end.

Molly hummed along to the tune quietly, tapping his finger against the grass to keep with the rhythm. As Caleb missed his beat, Molly finally turned around to face the wizard. The tiefling propped his head on his hand, eyeing Caleb, whose singing came to a stop.

“You know,” Molly started, keeping his voice down as to not wake the others, “you were a beat and a half late. You should keep in mind how long the rests are.”

“My apologies,” Caleb replied. He stifled a yawn. “It is late and, uh, I am self-taught.”

“I can tell,” Molly said. “You’re not bad though. What song was it?”

“It is––it is an old Zemnian lullaby. _Traveler’s Song_ is what I was told it was called. It has a few other names, but that’s––that is the one that, uh, stuck.”

“Any reason you don’t sing for the rest of us?”

“I––uh, it is just uncomfortable for me. I don’t––I do not want Jester pestering me to sing more or have her insult me, uh, again, if it does not meet her standards.” There was a small moment of realization in Caleb’s blue eyes. “Oh _scheiße_ , you heard me singing.”

“That I did, dear. I've gotta say, I didn’t really peg you for the type. Now dancing, _that_ I could see, but singing was out of left field.”

“Oh, gods. I sang… in front of you.” Caleb’s entire face matched the hue of his hair. He looked some mix between mortified, embarrassed, and tired. “ _Please_ tell me no one else heard.”

“I don’t think so.” A quick glance around the camp proved everyone else to be still sound asleep. Jester looked like she was the closest to waking up but, beyond that, it seemed he’d been the only one to hear. “Yeah, no, only me.”

Molly rose an eyebrow at Caleb. “You know no one will judge you here for singing, right?" At Caleb's look, Molly amended, "Okay, maybe Beauregard and Jester would, but Fjord would be cool with it.” Molly peered at the sleeping goblin curled up at Caleb’s leg. “I mean, Nott’s gotta know you sing, right?”

“She, uh, does,” Caleb answered. His cheeks were still slightly red and he definitely had an aura of embarrassment wafting off of his frame, but he seemed to be composing himself better with each passing minute. “She likes it and I did it more often when we traveled alone, but it just… fell out use when we met you guys. Just––it just did not, uh, seem appropriate.”

“With how weird we are, I’m honestly more surprised that none of us have burst into song already,” Molly chuckled. “I’m still holding out on Jester trying to sing someone back to consciousness, and I’m not sure if she’s going to sound great or atrocious if it happens.”

“I’m thinking it will probably be atrocious, _ja_.”

Molly forced his laughter down. “You know, you claim to not know many jokes yet you have an excellent sense of humor.”

Caleb managed something of a smile. “I am a regular bard,” he added. He yawned again, eyes scrunching tight as he shuddered at the action. His blue eyes turned to the east where the sun was finally breaking the horizon, the reddish-gold hues lighting the dark sky. He sighed to himself, looking relieved at the thought of his watch shift being over.

“Y’know,” Molly piped, a thought popping into his head, “I have no idea why you agreed to take watch when you don’t have darkvision. That was kind of dumb of us.”

Caleb laughed slightly. “Yeah, perhaps. Luckily, though nothing––uh, nothing happened.”

“Lucky us.”

The two lapsed into silence for a bit, the two of them content to watch the sunrise rise in quiet. Molly’s gaze kept flickering over to Caleb, whose eyes were steadily dropping. Once or twice, Molly saw the human nearly doze off before blinking himself away. Molly shook his head slightly.

“Sleep a bit,” he chimed. “The others won’t be up for another hour or two and I’m already up––I can take an impromptu watch.”

“It’s––it is _fine_ , I can manage––”

“I don’t know if you can tell but you’re falling asleep where you’re sitting, dear. Just take a nap.”

“I––” Caleb seemed to struggle with his words. He let out another sigh, this time in defeat. “Fine. Wake me up if anything happens.”

“‘Course,” Molly lied. After a moment, he added, “Hey, Caleb?”

“Hmm?” Caleb was already laying on the floor, head propped on his arm, back turned to Molly. The tiefling could just see Nott’s ear peeking over Caleb’s chest.

“I won’t say anything to the others about your singing but, uh, feel free to sing when it's just us if you want. No judgment here.”

“Cool,” Caleb murmured out, the word more of a hum as he drifted off. It barely took a minute before Caleb’s breathing evened out, his small twitchings and motions stilling as sleep took him.

Molly watched Caleb sleep for a few minutes before sitting up properly. He stretched an arm over his head, effortlessly avoiding his horns as he did a few morning exercises. He grabbed his swords and put them in his lap, turning back to watch the sunrise in the distance as he began his morning routine, taking care to stay quiet and not wake Caleb and the others.

He wondered if he would hear Caleb’s voice again.

Strangely? He hoped so.


End file.
